Lauded scientist Aosaf has winning formula as actor

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

It almost didn’t happen. Scientist turned actor Aosaf Afzal received an email from Decadent Theatre Company earlier this year checking his availability for a show that would be staged in Galway during the Arts Festival.  Aosaf, who is based in London, read the script for From A Low And Quiet Sea, based on Donal Ryan’s novel of the same name and “really wanted to be involved”. His agent sent back a short video of Aosaf performing an extract, saying the actor was available except for a couple of days in June when he’d be filming in England.

But Decadent’s Director, Andrew Flynn, initially misread June as July and figured Aosaf was out of the reckoning.

Fortunately, Andrew recognised his mistake on time and made swift contact.

Then, it was straight into rehearsals for Aosaf and fellow cast members Darragh O’Toole, Maeve Fitzgerald and Lorcan Cranitch, playing four people whose lives intersect at a critical moment.

Aosaf plays Farouk a Syrian doctor, who has managed to protect his wife and daughter from that country’s war. But to survive, they must flee, and cross a merciless sea for an unknown life in a faraway land. That land is home to people whose paths will converge with Aosaf’s, most notably Lumpy, Florence and John, all with their own issues.

“The script blew me away,” says Aosaf, who, in his previous career as a scientist, was awarded the British honour of MBE in 2006 for services to the community.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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